Blk 85 Market Revisited

Ask people where's one of the most popular food centre at Bedok.
Many will say Blk 85 Market Food Centre.
They have some of the best food in Singapore like the Carrot cake and the all famous Bah Chor Mee (Minced Meat Noodle).
I once queued near 40 minutes just for a bowl of that! Crazy!

Many months back, the market went for a full renovation. A make-shift temporary market and food centre were built and are still operating today.

The newly-renovated market will be opened this coming 7th January 2013.
Today, the construction fenced-out doors are opened and I went in to take a look.

Now, I'm seeing neat rows of tables and chairs with quite a few catered for handicap people. Nice!
The centre isle is more spacious to walk now.

At one corner of the food centre, a row of taps and basics is built. Very neat, very nice, very thoughtful!
In the middle of it, there are also several smaller washing basins with soap detergent dispenser. Nice!

Now comes the important part... toilets.
The toilets now follow the design of those classy shopping centre types with no front doors. They are spacious inside (at least for the Male toilet, don't know about the Female one).
There's also now one labeled "Family Toilet" with handicap facilities and baby diaper changing station. Very nice!

One interesting thing I've noticed is about the table design.
I noticed that there are 2 diagonally-located round holes on each table.
There are no labels or instructions beside them.
What are they used for?
Now, my guess is that they are for slotting in our wet umbrellas during rainy days.
Very nice! Very thoughtful!

For the open-space area, they used to be placed with untidily-arranged tables and chairs.
They are now replaced by nice-looking stone tables and chairs.
Very nice for cooling evening open-space dinning!

I must say I'm impressed by the effort and design for a neighbourhood wet market.

Now, I just hope they don't charge 10 cents for entry into the toilet! Not that we can't afford, but it just looks so "not modern".

Free Gifts From Apple

A few days before Christmas this year, Apple released a free app called "iTunes 12 Days of Gift".
The first "gift" would be available on 26th December 2012.

Now, there are already quite a number of "Paid-apps-gone-free-for-a-limited-time" app on the App Store. What makes this offering from Apple different from them?

On the 26th, when I launched the app, the gift was there!
It's an EP by Maroon 5! A 2-track plus a video EP.
This is an obvious different from the rest of similar app.

I was hoping to see what other goodies it got to offer.
To my disappointment, the following 2 days are just the same paid-app-gone-free apps. However, these 2 apps are real quality apps.

On the 28th December, I went to App Store's top "Free App" section and I see this:

The 2 free apps offered on the 27th and 28th December occupy the first 2 places with the main app itself taking 3rd place!

You don't see other paid-app-gone-free recommended by other app shoot up to the top spot like in this situation.

What an impact a big name company app (Apple in this case) can shoot an app to immediate fame.

iPhone 5 Panoramic Photo Quality

Apple built in Panorama feature in iOS 6 and introduced it during the iPhone 5 launch event.

Before iOS 6, I was using third party panorama apps such as "360 Panorama" and "Photo Synth".  The main problem with these 2 apps are that the final stitched panorama photo are of low pixel resolution.

With iOS 6's built-in Panorama feature, the final stitched photo has a much higher pixel resolution and thus better quality.

Here's one photo that I took few days ago at 77th floor of the Skypoint building in Australia's Surfers Paradise.

It's very clear in the original photo. Not sure if some quality are lost when uploading to this blog.

And here's the technical specs for this stitched photo:

Width  7360 pixels
Height 2332 pixels
DPI    72
Size   10.9 MB

The latest Version of Google+ Returns to Basics!

How do you like the latest Google+ update?
I particularly am overjoyed. The last version after version 2 was so bad that I switched back to an older version on my previous jailbroken iPhone 4S!
The last version was showing a "abstract-like" truncated picture of the post and won't show the comments until you click on it.
They are back now in the latest version!
Loving it!

Google+ Communities for iOS Workaround

So now Google released the "Communities" feature in Google+, but forgot to add that to Google+ for iOS!

The workaround now is to use the official Google Gmail app for iOS which allows posting comments and "+1".

Apple Maps is not Condemned

So, Apple Maps is unsurprisingly being voted one of the top 5 tech flops in 2012 by many gadget sites.

But is it really condemned?
Hmm.. I'm not sure for others.  But I'm not condemning it.

I actually did not hit any (yes, zero) snags or wrong directions from it for my country (Singapore).  I've been using it not less than 6 times now.

The 3D is not available yet in my country, so the "Fly-Over" mess is not applicable for me.

My Fibre Broadband under Minor Stress Test

This morning my newly-activated Fibre Broadband was put into minor stress test.

Several of the mobile devices were put to use in a typical Sunday morning.

I was also trying out the streaming of videos from my Android Samsung Galaxy S WIFI to my Apple TV. The PlayTo app was used to do that.

Meanwhile, the kids were watching YouTube videos on the iPad 3rd Gen. They like to replay those "favourited" videos.

At the same time, I continued my "saving" of 3 episodes of Taiwan drama serial simultaneously to local storage. "Saving" here means "Caching" technically or "Downloading" in layman term.

Then I start my "caching" of a 26MB videos from YouTube.

No one complained of any stoppages or lag.
Previously on ADSL, someone will grumble their videos are lagging or not moving.

WIFI Speed Test on my New Fibre Broadband

In 1996, I subscribed to my first Internet Provider, Pacific Internet with a then "fast" 56kbps dial-up modem.

In 2012 November 29th, I got my first Fibre Broadband with a speed of 100Mbs!

Naturally, I'm going to take my bunch of portable devices for a speed test comparison.

Here are the competitors:
1) Samsung Galaxy S WIFI 5.0 running Gingerbread 2.3.6
2) Apple iPhone 4S running iOS 5.1.1
3) Apple iPad (3rd gen) running iOS 5.1.1
4) Apple iPad Mini running iOS 6.0.1
5) Apple iPhone 5 running iOS 6.0

So, can the Apple iPhone 5, which Tim Cook said comes with "Fast WIFI" win it all?

The app to test with:
Speedtest.Net app for Android and iOS:

1. Speed Test Result for Samsung Galaxy S WIFI 5.0

2. Apple iPhone 4S

3. Apple iPad (3rd Gen)

4. Apple iPad Mini

5. Apple iPhone 5

Here's to summarise the results:

My Bet on X Factor UK 2012

I seldom watch English entertainment shows. But X Factor is one that I will always catch. It's entertainment both on-stage with the contestants and off-stage with the judges.
This season X Factor UK finalists features some good voices.

Here are two of my favourites:
Jahmene Douglas and James Arthur.

Both have great vocals.
Jahmene has a better vocal compared to James, but somehow James has the extra X Factor in his creativity style of singing.

My bet goes to James Arthur to win the competition.

My iPhone Got Upsized in Storage

Got the CloudFTP gadget recently.
Now, things are getting a bit sophisticated now.

Here, I'm now reading the video wirelessly on my Cruzer thumbdrive:
- via the Linux system on the CloudFTP and then stream it
- via my WIFI router
- via the Apple TV which is connected to my Full HD TV
- via HDMI.

Now I can offload all those big media files off my meagre iPhone's storage onto my thumb drives or external portable harddisk.

My Favourite iPhone Game Got Updated

Finally one of my favourite games is updated for iPhone 5's full screen. - Dream League Soccer.

Here are 2 screenshots of the games played on an iPhone 4 and iPhone 5.
The longer screen of the iPhone 5 really gives a big plus to the display viewing experience while playing:

Here a video export that I've played on my former iPhone 4S:

As of my last Android phone, I have not been successful to find an equivalent excellent soccer game for Android.

Highly recommended soccer game to my iPhone friends.
Yes, it's better than FIFA 12. I haven't tried FIFA 13 yet.

Both Dream League Soccer and FIFA 12 are nowhere near console quality, but they are certainly 2 of the best on mobile platform and I can play them anywhere.

My iPhone 5 Daily Usage

I've the iPhone 5 for roughly 3 weeks now.
Here's a breakdown of the things I do on it... Graphically.

As can be seen from the chart, I use the iPhone a lot for Music, Gaming and Apps.
- Music: because of iPhone's great sound quality. (with a music app that provides customised graphic equalizer)
- Gaming: because the graphic chip in iPhone 5 has significantly improved over its predecessor, iPhone 4's (which itself is already awesome)
- Apps: because I still prefer iOS's intuitive touches(pun not intended) to apps functionalities such as "Badge Notification", "Swipe to Delete", "Status Bar Tap to Top of Page", etc.

One thing to note is the low percentage for net browsing.
I generally don't use the iPhone much for surfing net. One of the reasons why a bigger size screen is not necessary for me.

Next, here's the breakdown for the Social Networking app usage for me.

Google+ is slowly taking over my social networking life because of the great community there and the quality of the mobile and PC app for Google+.

And yes, the iPhone 5 is taking over my life ... slowly but surely ...

iPhone Myths (Part 1)

There are so many myths about the iPhone that I would like to address them here.

Myth 1
You can only put your music on a single machine.

Myth 2
You cannot download files onto your iPhone.

Myth 3
You cannot download YouTube videos for offline viewing.

Myth 4
You cannot live without iTunes.

The fact is the above problems are not problems at all.

I will tell you how to do that later.
And it's not a workaround nor do you need to jailbreak for them to work.

My iPhone 5 Review (Part 2)

See also: My iPhone 5 Review (Part 1)

Map Revisited

To further confirm the turn-by-turn accuracy, I tested it out again, this time over a longer 31km distance.

Upon entering the destination, the system gave me 3 route options. The route I took was not the default system-picked one.
This way, I'll be able to test its re-routing capability.
The system was quick to start a re-routing seconds after I deviate from its default route.
The update was fast and accurate throughout.

So far, after tested the turn-by-turn three times, I'm quite comfortable to use it on a real unknown destination.

One good feature of Apple Maps Turn-by-Turn is its support for "Lock Screen Mode".
In normal mode, the app will show the usual navigation on the map.
To operate it in Lock Screen Mode, while the navigation is going on, press the Sleep button to lock the screen.
The lock screen appears with the maps slightly dimmed. When timeout occurs, the screen goes to sleep turns black.
When the app reaches a point for a navigation voice announcement, the screen will wake up to the lock screen and an info bar will be shown above.
I thought this is an ingenious implementation that will save quite a considerable amount of battery as the screen will be off when travelling on a long expressway, which I did on the 24km-long PIE on the way to Jurong.

Of course, as iOS 6 also runs on the iPhone 4S with Apple Maps Navigation and not exclusive to iPhone 5, the experience is probably the same or close.
But, for me, the extra screen estate does make a bit of a difference.

Gaming

Apple claims that the graphics capability of the iPhone 5 is a few times better than that of iPhone 4S (which is by no mean slow at all).

I tried out the 3D-rendered racing game, Need For Speed Uncovered.

On iPhone 4S, when the game starts to load the race, while it loads, a progress bar will be shown with some instructional text above. I was able to finish reading these text before the loading was done.

On the iPhone 5, the loading went so fast that, I could only managed the first 3 to 4 words before the loading ended.

Throughout the game, the rendering was smooth without lag or jittering.

However, this is an old game with a not so full graphic details. I'll try out with a newer game like the Asphalt 7 if I have the chance.

In the next review, I'll test this out over Apple TV Mirroring to my HD TV to see it's still smooth.

Lightning Connector

The iPhone 5 sports a new type of connector called Lightning Connector.
I really have mixed feeling on this new change.

First, the good.
I really love this connector as it's small and compact.
It "clicks" into the iPhone connector socket with a nice satisfying sound.
But the most ingenious part of it is that it's "reversible". And that means you can plug it in no matter it's "right-side-up" or "upside-down". Nice!

Second, the bad.. and a really bad one!
With this introduction of a new type of connector, it renders all my purchased 30-pin accessories useless.
But wait, there's a solution.. I could get a lightning-to-30pin converter from Apple!
But wait again, that little thing cost US39! A "daylight robbery" by Apple!
I'll never spend that kind of money.

After some searching, it seems there's an alternative.
I found a 3rd party adaptor from Qoo10 (AKA GMarket) online market app.
And it's selling at a mere S$8.90. Maybe I would get that.

My iPhone 5 Review (Part 1)

The Wait Ends

After months of waiting, I've finally got the iPhone when it launched in Singapore on 21st September 2012.

Took me near 2 hours from queueing to getting the phone itself. Not really a long time.

Size and Weight

The first impression that I had when I first held the phone is my hand is that it's so light and slim it seems "hollow". One can even mistake it for one of those dummy prototypes showed handphone shops.

There are other light smartphones around such as the Galaxy S2 and S3. Both of these are light but because of the wider width, they don't give the same overall-lightness feeling that the iPhone 5 gives.

Maps

There are reports of several glitches in the new Apple Maps.

I tried the Fly-Over for New York. Some buildings and roads are so distorted that they look like they are in middle of a war zone.

Turn by Turn

I read some reports that the Turn by Turn was showing wrong routes and info.

I tried once yesterday over a short distance on Singapore street.
It finished with accuracy. No errors then.
I'll have to try more over a longer distance to conclude its accuracy.

User Interface

One of the main differences, which is a big improvement in this case, over the iPhone 4S is the bigger 4" screen.

It is taller, while maintaining the width. I really welcome that size proportion. I generally have a small palm and anytime wider than the width of iPhone 4S or Galaxy S2, I will find it hard to operate the phone with one hand.

With this difference in screen size, there's an impact to the app design. For those older apps that aren't designed to take the full advantage of the taller display, there will be 2 black rectangular boxes each at the top and bottom of the main app display.

But for those apps that have updated to take up the full screen estate, they just look gorgeous.

See next: My iPhone 5 Review (Part 2)

London Olympics 2012 Gold Medal Tally - Day 10

Here's the Gold Medal tally showing the top 5 countries.
Looks like the first 2 are untouchable already.

The host Great Britain is getting stronger while
France is getting stagnant for several days now.

< Day 9 Gold Medal Chart

London Olympics 2012 Gold Medal Tally - Day 9

Here's the chart for the Gold Medals of the top 4 countries on day 9.
Still close for the top 2.
But Great Britain is fast pulling away from the fourth place South Korea.

< Day 8 Gold Medal Chart
> Day 10 Gold Medal Chart